Students often do not understand the requirements necessary to enter certain fields or job areas; assignments that acquaint them when those requirements can be very "educational"in a variety of ways. For example, it is not uncommon to encounter students who want to enter highly competitive fields like law enforcement to have little or no understanding of how difficult those jobs are to land (frequently there are hundreds of applicants per position) or that becoming an FBI agent requires graduate education in law, accounting, languages, computer science or some other advanced degree that the FBI happens to need and be age 37 or younger. Students often have unrealistic expectations about their desired careers that could stand correcting, even if they don't want to know it.

Giving the students a role (like a reporter, detective or researcher) can help them by providing a context for creating and asking questions, especially when coupled with a scenario that they have to "solve". For example, presenting them with a "crime scene" and "suspects" (role played by the instructor and having different personalities and characteristics to keep it interesting) and then asking them to create the questions they need to ask to solve the crime is a very useful critical thinking that students find both interesting and engaging. This method is also helpful if you are a frustrated actor and want to practice your technique.

Learning styles is an interesting idea and has become something of a "sacred cow" in education but the awful reality is that most businesses (and for that matter, professional schools) couldn't give a hot damn about what of learner you are; the message in those environments is typically "our way or the highway. In both law school and graduate school (in clinical psychology) you were expected to conform to the style being used, not the other way around. I also never had an employer ever ask me (or seem to care) what my learning style was--what they cared about was whether or not I could do the job they wanted. I think that it is often the duty of the individual student to figure out how to make the material being taught fit their style as opposed to expecting teachers to accommodate them. Therefore, that might be a more realistic approach to take than to try to adapt your methods to four admittedly different styles. What do you think?

1. Thou shall be interesting. It doesn't matter how well you know the material if nobody is listening. Bore your students and they won't be learning from you. 2. Thou shall be excited about thy subject. If you aren't excited about the subject matter, your students sure as certain aren't going to be. 3. Thou shall be fair and unbiased. Remember how you felt about "teacher's pets" when you were in school? No more need be said. 4. Thou shall be strict but fair. Students need structure and expect you to provide it. Students need standards and need you to set them. If you don't follow your rules, you can bet they won't either. 5. Thou shall make sure thy zipper is completely zipped before class begins. Don't ask. Let's just say I'm glad that you can't really die from embarrassment.

Such students should get special treatment not only by instructor but also by someone trained in that field and the school should step in. Student with learning disability can frustrate both an instructor and other students since lots of time and attention is spent on them. The solution is that extra hours should be reserved for such students in the form of private tutoring which brings them to the level of the class and avoid frustration in the class. I think the Federal law does not extend special treatment for disabled students after the age of 21. The school should find the means.

Every course has its own time schedule. An instructor should finish the course material within limited period of time. However, if say for example majority of your class have problem with the course and you are obliged to take time so that students get the material, you cannot finish the course? How can you handle this problem? Any suggestion is welcome and appreciated. Thank you

I just wonder if IDE and SME complement each other! As a student, I got both IDE and SME, but not a single time have I witnessed an instructor that possessed both. Those instructors that are extremely genius in their subject area tend to be poor communicators. The ones that are excellent communicators lack profundity in subject areas. Why is that?

I enjoyed ED106 especially module 1. The communication skills given are what one needs in class. I have witnessed the importance of starting the day with review of previous lesson that interconnects lessons and increase relevance as well as understanding of the subject matter. Onces the days lesson is connected to the previous one, an instructor should begin with overview of the lesson to be covered and slowly and smoothly delve into details. Make sure you are not alone while delving into the complex and detailed. That journey should include students. If not the road is not paved

I believe subjective tests require a higher skill level for students and preparation than the objective tests.

How can both students and instructors learn from this style?

Stressing to my students the importance of attending the Live Chat sessions and reviewing the archive chat more than one time is something I do all the time. This enables the student to truly grasp what I was teaching. It also instills in them the importance of attending class and interacting with their peers and teacher. Those that attend the Live Chats and review the archive chats are usually the ones that never have problems completing assignments and getting good grades. Helping my students understand that their success is their hands is the way to help them take ownership of their successes.

Hello Learners, In terms of eye contact within the online setting this would relate to maintaining communication through email and within the discussion forum. As an online instructor it is so important to create a positive rapport with the learners and give them all the resources needed to be successful. When conducting live chats, I always welcome each student to let them know that I am aware of their presence and always open the forum to questions and comments.

..providing plenty of resources.

providing more auditory learning tools can prove to be effective.

..allows for critical evaluating.

..helps to bridge learning with future career opportunities.

Working in Student Services, we monitor the IEPs for our students. Many of these students assume that their IEP will follow them in College. Although we make necessary accommodations for the students, we are not bound by law to follow the IEP in Higher Education. Students feel as though there should be continued support as they feel they still need. How can we possibly accommodate these students and prepare them at the same time for their career?

Students always sit next to or near someone they know. Therefore I have them count off by #s to get them into a group with student they do not know and have to work with in order to accomplish a task. I find this effective because students are forced to interact with someone they may not have otherwise. in preparing our students for the workforce, they will have to work w/ individuals from diverse backgrounds. We are obligated to provide an educational enviornment, and communication and appropriate interaction skills may not be consistent for each student. They can learn from one another and learn how to respect one another as oppposed to just judging someone by their appearance.

I use the enitre classroom to my advantage. I like to be interactive and I feel that it transfers over to my students in the classroom. Student engagement is very important in the Sociology class I teach because we discuss current societal issues that students can actively particpiate and share personal stories. I walk around the room so that everyone feels invovled and so I can be connected to each student, even if they do not like to participate. I do not know how to be still for longer than 3-5 mins, but I do not pace. I like to consider it "working the room."

to creat an atmoshpere for learning you must having the seating arrange where you students fill like they have plenty of personal space and that they are in an environment where they can make choises.